Coe Ridge Colony facts for kids
The Coe Ridge Colony was founded by Ezekiel (who went by Zeke on occasion) and Patsy Ann Coe in 1866. After the Emancipation Proclamation and the ratification of the 13th Amendment, many ex-slaves struggled to find ways to support themselves and their families. Some resorted to share-cropping with their previous masters, others migrated and tried to find their own settlements, and yet others purchased land from the plantation they had previously worked as slaves. The Coe Ridge Colony was a refuge for African Americans, Native Americans, and disenfranchised white women against the persecutions of society. The colony was in particular a place of refuge for freed slaves, who needed a place to escape their oppressors and attempt to build a life for themselves. Coe Ridge Colony was widely renowned in neighboring areas as a mixing pot of "misfits" and "outcasts". However, this reputation didn't prevent the residents of Coe Ridge Colony from building a thriving community. Coe Ridge Colony was isolated in the Southern Mountains of Kentucky with the Cumberland River as the main mode of transportation for nearly a century. Coe Ridge Colony was isolated not only physically, but socially and culturally as well. Coe Ridge Colony had its own distinct culture, due to its unique racial diversity found nearly nowhere else during this time. By the 1930s however, the physical and cultural isolation would be nearly non-existent as neighboring communities increased their interaction with the colony. Because of Coe Ridge Colony's isolation and self-managed society, there are no newspapers or court records to assist with outlining the daily lives of the residents of Coe Ridge. Additionally, the residents were nearly all illiterate, making diaries/journals a non-existent source of information. The history of Coe Ridge Colony was preserved primarily by the spoken word, with aid coming from the neighboring communities who interacted with Coe Ridge Colony.
History
The little ridge in Cumberland County that would later become Coe Ridge Colony was first inhabited by a man named Ezekiel (who was Jesse Coe's favorite slave in 1866). Ezekiel was 50% white, 25% African American, and 25% Native American. While Ezekiel was living in Coe Ridge, he met and eventually married Patsy. Patsy was a slave for Ezekiel's prior masters, a wealthy white family who went by the name of Coe. Ezekiel and Patsy had 10 children, who they would reclaim after the slaves were freed from the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Their former master, who went by the name of Jesse Coe, offered to sell a portion of the Coe plantation that would later become the Coe Ridge Colony. Jesse Coe sold the 300 acres of land to Ezekiel and Patsy for six hundred dollars. When the land was first purchased from Jesse Coe, there were only sixteen residents of the Coe Ridge Colony. They were faced with the enormous task of turning the 300 acres of untamed and overgrown wilderness into a place where they could establish a community. The successful side of having these 300 acres of forest was that it provided the staple product of the Coe Ridge Colony's economy, as well as providing for the construction of homes in the community. The extensive chestnut orchards also provided food, as well as additional income for the colony. The chestnut orchards of Coe Ridge became a source of conflict between the minority groups found in Coe Ridge, and their white neighbors who resented the presence of Coe Ridge Colony. Each side took issue as to who owned the chestnut orchards, and therefore who had rights to the income they produced. However, a chestnut blight in the early 1900s would dry up this source of food and income. With the collapse of their main source of income, namely lumber and chestnut harvesting, members of the community turned to moonshining and bootlegging to try and sustain their families and lives. However, by 1958 the colony of Coe Ridge had become desolate, the once busy colony completely abandoned.
Importance of Coe Ridge Colony
The history of Coe Ridge Colony is an example of a multi-racial community in a time where racial tensions were high, and co-existence seemed nearly impossible. Lynching, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of racial persecution raged across the entire United States of America, and more specifically across Kentucky. The unique mix of previously enslaved African Americans, Native Americans, and disenfranchised white women was a very rare occurrence during this time period. In a time when separate but equal segregation was legalized, Coe Ridge Colony showed that different races could live together in harmony.
While this harmony didn't last (due to economic collapse, lack of local justice system, and external persecution), Coe Ridge colony proved that interracial harmony wasn't an impossible feat. Additionally, while the persecution of the residents of Coe Ridge Colony was despicable, it added another case to the ever increasing list of white persecution and oppression against minorities in the United States. These instances would prove essential in the battle for racial equality and protecting minority groups from blatant persecution.
The colony of Coe Ridge served as inspiration for the third season of FX Network's Justified. The season features an isolated black community deep in Harlan County, Kentucky known as Noble's Holler, whose leader risks all to keep his community out of sight from criminals and the law alike. On multiple occasions during the show's run, Noble's Holler serves as a refuge for white women that have nowhere else to run.
